


Other Means of Influence

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:02:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26898628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Hannibal and Will shared a beautiful, bloody moment together before Will tried to end it all. Only Hannibal was expecting it. Perhaps it's time for Will to try those other means of influence than violence Chiyoh once gave him a graphic demonstration. It's not like Hannibal isn't more than willing to be influenced but there's always another surprise waiting beyond the veil where Hannibal Lecter is concerned...
Relationships: Alana Bloom/Hannibal Lecter, Alana Bloom/Will Graham, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 15





	Other Means of Influence

**Author's Note:**

> This is a possible ending after the finale…yes, there’s romance, but I didn’t want to neglect the horror element, so there’s a dark twist. I don’t own Hannibal but for months it has owned me.

He was alive. It shouldn’t be possible. What’s more, he was warm, dry, and clean, lying in a bed. Nor was he alone. 

“Hannibal.” He turned under the arm, locked in protective possiveness over his naked chest. “Should I even ask what happened last night?”

“One of my long cherished wishes and fantasies came true, along with one of your worst nightmares.” Hannibal reached out to touch Will’s cheek, smiling. “Your reaction to it all wasn’t exactly a surprise, Will.” Hannibal raised an eyebrow. “Dying in your arms wasn’t a bad way to go, but I couldn’t let you go, or us. Not after what we’d just shared.”

“Not even you could survive a fall off a cliff.” Will gazed at those dark eyes, crinkling around the edges. A tightness swelling in his chest was growing. Perhaps it was despair. Perhaps it was happiness. Will himself wasn’t sure. Not yet. “I certainly couldn’t.”

“We could, if someone was waiting to catch us.” Hannibal raised his head from the bed, revealing a body as naked as his own, bandaged in places where the Great Red Dragon had wounded him. “See for yourself.” 

Will slid out of bed, aware of his nudity, aware of Hannibal’s eyes roaming every inch of him. He walked over to the window and gazed out at the view of the beach and the sea. 

In the distance was a boat with a net trailing behind it. There might have been a slender figure stood at the wheel, dressed in dark clothing, or it might have been a trick of the fog. Will suspected the latter.

“Chiyoh.” Will uttered the name of the enigmatic woman who mistrusted Hannibal, yet had a way of appearing whenever her childhood companion was in danger. “How did she know where we were or what would happen to us?” 

“I’ve got another confession and a mic of my own to drop.” Hannibal rose, moving behind Will to encircle him with his arms. “Just as you lay a trap for me, I lay one for you.”

Three Years Ago

“Some creatures should not be caged.” Chiyoh gazed at him, letting out a plume of white breath. “Will Graham will try to cage you, if he can.”

“He might. I may even let him capture me.” Hannibal gazed from Will’s porch at the door. Behind it lay the man who’d become everything to him, in spite of all attempts to walk away. “He’s not ready for my world, Chiyoh. Once again, I’m wondering if I should eat him while I still can, or…” He let his voice trail off.

“Or?” Chiyoh let that one syllable word trail out with mesmerizing emphasis. She and Will had that in common, a slow, seductive way of speaking that moved at its own rhythm, apart from the rapid chatter of the rest of the world. 

“Or if I should go into the cage and wait for him until he is ready. I’m going to let Will decide.” Hannibal glanced at Chiyoh. “If I do enter the cage, will you wait for me? Wait for my escape?”

“You’re confident you will escape?” Chiyoh raised an eyebrow. 

“Vigilance will only last so long before my jailers relax their guard. Other killers will appear, distracting them.” Hannibal smiled a little, considering the future. “Jack Crawford will use Will Graham to try to hunt them down. He may even encourage Will to return to me, in order to do so.”

“Is Jack Crawford so very predictable?” A note of amused disapproval entered her voice. “I thought better of him.”

“He deserves to be thought better of, but he’s got a fatal flaw. He’s as addicted to the hunt as any killer. He’ll use whatever tool he can to achieve his goals.” Hannibal smiled a little. “Whatever else Will Graham might be, he remains Jack Crawford’s favourite tool.”

“Will Graham is not so predictable.” Chiyoh glanced at the door. “He may not act as you visualize.”

“There’s one thing I’m sure of. The moment Will Graham is ready for my world, he’s going to try to destroy both of us.” Hannibal glanced at Chiyoh. “If I choose the location where that happens, I think I can guess how he’ll go about doing it.”

“How shall we stop him, when he does?” Chiyoh gazed at him with dark, gleaming eyes, even if her lips didn’t smile. 

Hannibal smiled in her stead. “Be ready to catch us when we fall.”

The Present

Will opened his eyes, from the vision he’d gotten from his front porch. “Once more, we’ve played each other.”

“Without games, life would be a lot less entertaining.” Hannibal pulled Will closer to him.  
“Once games were all I had. I was certain I was fine being alone. I didn’t even notice I was alone until I met you.” For a moment, the arm holding him trembled. “I wanted you so badly, I was willing to change you to keep you at my side.”

“You have, and yet you can’t, Hannibal. Not completely.” Will allowed himself to be turned around, allowed a smile to tug at his lips. “It’s impossible to do that to me anymore than I can to you.”

“There are still pleasures you and I can share.” Hannibal kissed his ear. “Let me share one more with you?”

The echo of Chiyoh’s advice rang through his head, right before her lips touched his. There are other means of influence than violence. 

Perhaps it had been more than a distraction. It might have been advice in the form of a example. 

Will took Hannibal’s face in his hands and kissed him, aware that he was no longer wearing his wedding ring. He must have lost it in the ocean.

Hannibal let himself be kissed, opened his own mouth, and began to devour his, in a way that wouldn’t mutilate or hurt. A way they could both survive. 

Time to try Chiyoh’s way. Never mind the fact that Will wanted to, or that Hannibal was a really good kisser. 

“Oh, my,” he breathed against the other man’s lips when they parted, inches from each other. 

“Well, I have wanted to do that for a while.” Hannibal grinned with almost boyish mischief at him. “You’re very kissable.”

This was almost like being dashed with cold water, reminding him of the woman Will had once described thus, whom they’d both kissed. Someone Hannibal had killer intentions toward. 

Unless he could be distracted from this goal. Unless he could be distracted from many things. 

Will smiled and pulled Hannibal to the bed, only too aware he was enjoying this distraction himself, even while his heart raced for multiple reasons. No matter what the consequences of surviving might be, he was going to enjoy this.

He’d just have to deal with the consequences when they came up. 

They didn’t appear until the afterglow had faded. Hannibal insisted on pulling Will into the shower with him. They explored each other’s bodies as if they were any two men who’d been in love for too long without touching each other sexually. 

It turned out they were quite compatible. It was a while before they got clean. Once they did, Hannibal insisted they put on tuxedos. 

“It’s a special occasion.” Hannibal knotted Will’s tie with slow seductiveness. “You’re finally mine. My murder husband in every sense.”

“Don’t ruin the moment with Freddie Lounds.” Will grinned at Hannibal, who grinned back. 

“You started it.” He gestured to the younger man to follow him through a door. “Come.”

Will followed, only to stop and stare at the dinner table set for three with the very best silver. A huge roast graced the center of it. 

At the head of the table, Bedelia Du Maurier sat with wet eyes, dressed in a revealing evening gown.

“Don’t get up, Bedelia.” Hannibal smiled at his former wife and therapist. “It’s hard to move when you’re getting accustomed to missing a leg.”

Will looked from Bedelia to the roast, his smile dying on his lips. 

The former therapist looked straight at Will, smiling a bitter smile through her tears.  
“Welcome to the other side of the veil.”

**Author's Note:**

> The line "Some creatures should not be caged" is from or very close to what Chiyoh said to Hannibal in Digestivo.
> 
> The line "There are other means of influence than violence" was in Contorno. It's what Chiyoh said to Will before kissing him. Yes, she was distracting him right before pushing him off the train but I also wonder if she wasn't planting some ideas in his head on how to handle Hannibal?
> 
> Hannibal's line, "You're very kissable" is a call-back to Will's own statement about Alana Bloom in Fromage, a woman both he and Hannibal have kissed and Hannibal later vows to kill.


End file.
